The invention relates to a portable device and a method for reading coded information and digital images.
The term “coded information” indicates an “optical code”, i.e. a set of graphic marks, placed on a label or directly on a product by means of which a piece of information is coded as a sequence of white zones and black zones or of variously coloured zones arranged according to two or more directions. Examples of such codes are barcodes, stacked codes, two-dimensional codes, colour codes and other codes. Portable devices are known that are provided with coded information reading means that perform reading using different technologies, which are mainly based on scanning luminous radiation. Such means for reading coded information can be, for example, based on laser but also on digital image acquisition means, the term “digital image” meaning an image that can be acquired by a sensor, consisting of pixels, which can be linear or matrix. Typically, such reading means is arranged on a head face of the portable device and the operator acquires the optical code to be decoded, according to a first operating mode of the portable device, arranging this head face facing the coded information.
Some applications of the portable device nevertheless not only require the coded information to be read but also require an operation performed by an operator to be documented visually. For example, increasingly frequently, acquiring the signature of a document is required as proof of handing-over of a delivery. For this reason, increasingly frequently, the portable device also comprises digital image acquisition means, such as, for example, a conventional digital camera, which offers a colour image of the framed zone, has a very great number of sensor pixels, but which is not normally arranged for reading an optical code in the sense that it acquires images that are difficult to decode.
The portable device further comprises also a graphic display, for displaying text and/or graphic information in which the image is displayed that is acquired by the digital image acquisition means, whether the image can be an optical code or a visual document. The portable device further comprises also data inserting means, for example a keyboard, which in some applications may also not be present inasmuch as the data can also be inserted via the display screen itself, if it is a touchscreen. The display and the keyboard, if present, are typically arranged on a larger front face of the portable device whilst the digital camera is arranged on a larger rear face, opposite the front face, of the portable device in such a manner that the operator, according to a further operating mode of the portable device, framing the image of interest with the camera facing downwards, can see displayed on the display the result of the acquisition.
“Coded information” is further to be intended as indicating any information or set of information that is coded and stored in a transponder, which is generally part of a “tag” or of a label, which is read and/or written in a known manner by the radio-frequency reading and/or writing means, better known as RFID reading means. The portable device thus also comprises reading means for reading radio-frequency coded information, which, in particular, comprises a generator of an interrogation radio signal and an antenna for transmitting and/or receiving the radio signal. The radio-frequency antenna can be arranged on any portion of the portable device, provided it faces outwards, and thus an operator, to read coded information in an RFID tag according to a further operating mode, faces the portion of the device containing the antenna facing the RFID tag.
The portable device further comprises at least one reading outcome indicator that makes the outcome of a reading operation perceptible to the user, whether it can be a reading of coded information or an image acquisition. This indicator can be, for example, a sound indicator, a vibration indicator or a visual indicator. The visual indicators certainly constitute more effective reading outcome indicators, also in noisy industrial environments where acoustic and vibration indicators are used less effectively, and they are further cheap and very compact. Nevertheless, the position in which the visual indication is shown is of fundamental importance, inasmuch as it is necessary that it be always within the field of view of the operator.
Visual reading outcome indicators are known that emit a beam of light the emission angle of which covers a region of space that approximately identifies the field of view of the operator. One example of a visual indicator of this type, typically used when the portable device is used according to the first operating mode, is known from EP1128315 A1, which shows a light beam projected towards the plane in which the coded information is located. One problem of the visual indicator disclosed by EP1128315 is that, during operation of the portable device, as the portable device can be grasped by an operator in different configurations in function of various acquisition needs, some use configurations of the portable device are possible in which the visual indication is not visible to the operator.
In order to overcome this problem, it is known from EP1816585 A1 to provide the portable device with two visual indicators arranged in positions that are such that each emission angle covers a respective field of view, which are oriented differently from one another in space to ensure increased visibility for an operator.
Nevertheless, the more the portable device is able to read different types of “coded information”, or to acquire digital images in different positions, the more the use configuration of the portable device increase so that some configurations of use of the portable device exist in which neither of the two visual indicators disclosed by EP1816585 A1 is visible to the operator.
It follows that it would be necessary to provide the portable device with a plurality of visual indicators, in various zones of the portable device, such that at least one of the visual indicators covers a respective effective field of view of an operator. A solution of this type not only requires a multiplication of the indicator devices, with a consequent increase in costs, but also imposes that the portable device has to be modified over time, if a further possible operating mode with the same portable device is identified with which a corresponding visual indication is not associated.
It should be noted that, usually, the display also acts as a visual indicator, for example during the image-acquisition operating mode, but the use of the display is further limited by the fact that a cheap liquid crystal display is typically readable only when the operator is positioned in front of the display or within a limited angle.
One object of the present invention is to make a visual reading outcome indication available that does not require additional visual indicators.
A further object of the present invention is to associate a further visual indicator with the coded information reading means, in particular associating a visual indicator with the coded information radio-frequency reading means.
According to the invention, a portable device is provided, and a method for reading coded information and image acquisition.
According to the invention, an illuminator is provided, associated with image acquisition means that is able to emit a visual reading outcome indication at an operating mode of use of the portable device in which the device reads coded information. In this manner, the illuminator, acting to illuminate an image framed during an image-acquisition operating mode inasmuch as it is powerable by a driving signal which corresponds to a first current signal, also supplies a visual reading outcome indication inasmuch as it is powerable to a second current signal at a further operating mode of reading coded information. In this manner, it is not necessary to provide the portable device with further visual indicators inasmuch as the illuminator also supplies the reading outcome visual indicator.
Further, as the illuminator illuminates a semispace in front of the illuminator, a non-directive visual indicator is obtained that is able to be used advantageously also in existing applications and in possible future applications. In particular, as the coded information radio-frequency reading means is arranged in a first face of the portable device, for example a front face or an upper head face, whilst the image acquisition means and the illuminator are arranged in a second face del device, for example a rear face, opposite or adjacent to the first but above all different from the first face, the visual reading outcome indication is perceived visually in all the semispace in which the operator is positioned, which corresponds to the semispace on which the illuminator is, when a reading of radio-frequency coded information is obtained.
In this manner, the first semispace from which the reading means is able to read coded information, is oriented diversely in space with respect to the second semispace, in which the visual reading outcome indication is provided.
In fact, as the radio-frequency antenna has to be arranged facing the RFID tag to read an RFID tag, it is advantageous to have a visual reading outcome indication in the semispace in front of the rear face of the portable device, facing the operator or anyway clearly visible to the operator.